I have 2 ocellaris clowns in my tank and i keep having to qt them for ich. I have done the 5 day treatment twice already and everytime i put them back in the tank they get ich. Is there ich in my main tank that they keep getting or what?

otrlynn

10/14/2008, 06:08 PM

The short answer is that yes, you still have ich in your main tank, and when you put them back in there they become re-infected. Here is all you need to know about ich and how to treat it

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-08/sp/index.php

stlrams88

10/14/2008, 07:26 PM

it really is not an option to take everything out and treat the main tank and i have already treated it once before i put all the corals in it. is there any reef safe ich treatment?

1DeR9_3Hy

10/14/2008, 07:53 PM

I am not familiar with marine ich, but fresh ich requires a host in order for it to live. I know with fresh water systems, all you would need is a few days of having the main tank empty to kill off most of the ich in the tank. Is this not the case with marine ich?

otrlynn

10/14/2008, 08:31 PM

No it is not true with marine ich. The tank must remain fishless for a minimum of 6 weeks for the ich to die off in the display tank. There is no reef safe ich treatment contrary to what your LFS might want to sell you. Please read the article in the link I posted above. It is a huge pain to get all fish out of a reef tank, I have been there, done that, and will never add another fish to my DT without quarantining first..